ProMat 2015, slated to be held March 23-26, will feature more than 800 exhibits and include a comprehensive educational conference. The event, held at the McCormick Place South, will offer an array of products to increase productivity in your operations. Here’s a guide to many of them.

In today's supply chain, the only constant is change.
Our white paper 'Change Your Perspective: Four Keys to Effectively Adapting to Rapid Change in the Distribution Center Environment' provides key insights on not only adapting to trends, but which trends will enable you to achieve running the warehouse of the future.

During this Webcast you'll learn how the latest generation of robotics systems, which incorporate vision, mobility, autonomous navigation, complex manipulation and motion control, can be used in a wide variety of appliations such as picking, placing, order fulfillment, palletizing, depalletizing, loading, unloading and many other areas.

While various economic indices are showing signs of a declining economy, the Institute of Supply Management’s Non-Manufacturing Report on Business for July shows an economy that is still growing.

The ISM’s index for measuring the sector’s overall health—known as the NMI—was 54.3% in July, a 0.5% gain from June. As is the case with the ISM’s manufacturing index, a reading above 50% or higher represents growth. July marks the seventh consecutive month the NMI is more than 50%.

Looking at the report’s key metrics, its Business Activity Index at 57.4% was down 0.7%, and the New Orders Index was up 2.3% at 56.7%. And the Employment Index at 50.9% was up 1.2%.

“The report actually exceeded my expectations,” said Tony Nieves, chair of the ISM’s Non-Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, in an interview. “The rise in employment is encouraging…it is only the second time it has been up since December 2007 [May 2010 hit 50.4%]. I thought Business Activity might take a dip, because New Orders were down in June as that usually translates to business activity depending on the cycle time. But now New Orders are up, which should translate into increased activity next month.”

The 0.5% gain in the NMI is due to a degree in gains in New Orders and Employment, said Nieves. He added that the overall expectations for July’s report were that the numbers would slip somewhat, which, he said, makes the data surprising to a degree.

The seven consecutive months of the NMI being above 50% lends some optimism to the overall economic outlook at a time when many economic indices are slowing down following a strong first half of the year. Recent signs of a slowdown include higher business inventories, lower levels of consumer spending, a slight slowdown in manufacturing activity, and fewer purchases of durable goods, among others. The confluence of good and bad news has led many experts to surmise that what is happening in the economy is a combination of mixed signals and cautious optimism.

“We are hearing that the jobless recovery is still happening,” said Nieves. “And housing is still lagging, too…and if it does not come back we could see a double-dip recession. I am not seeing it yet. If we were to see a strong slippage in manufacturing—which tends to lead going in an out of recessions—then we may see a double-dip, but I don’t see that happening at this point. Hopefully, this data will continue to trend out nicely over the rest of the quarter. Only time will tell.”

The NMI in the summer months can sometimes present misleading data, due to things like vacation schedules, and companies cutting back hours of operation, said Nieves. Data heading into the fourth quarter, he said, can often present a more accurate picture of what is really happening and provide better insight into exactly how the year will end.

Other NMI metrics: The NMI’s Prices index fell 1.1% to 52.7% and has been trending down for 12 consecutive months. Nieves said prices are declining due to a lack of demand and confidence. What is occurring on this front, he explained, is largely a matter of supply and demand, depending on the service or commodity.

NMI Imports at 48.0% were flat compared to June, and New Export Orders at 52.0% were up 4.0%.

About the Author

Jeff BermanGroup News Editor

Jeff Berman is Group News Editor for Logistics Management, Modern Materials Handling, and Supply Chain Management Review. Jeff joined the Supply Chain Group in 2005 and leads online and print news operations for these publications. In 2009, Jeff led Logistics Management to the Silver Medal of Folio’s Eddie Awards in the Best B2B Transportation/Travel Website category. Jeff works and lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where he covers all aspects of the supply chain, logistics, freight transportation, and materials handling sectors on a daily basis. If you want to contact Jeff with a news tip or idea,
please send an e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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In today's supply chain, the only constant is change.
Our white paper 'Change Your Perspective: Four Keys to Effectively Adapting to Rapid Change in the Distribution Center Environment' provides key insights on not only adapting to trends, but which trends will enable you to achieve running the warehouse of the future.

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About the Author

Bob Heaney is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of distinguished leadership experience in research, analysis, and advisory roles in Supply Chain Engineering. Heaney’s coverage area within Aberdeen includes various elements of Supply Chain Execution (Transportation Management, Warehouse Management, Distributed Order Management and Supply Chain Visibility). Contact Bob Heaney